Quillifluous

mellifluous with the quill

[quillifluous]

anfractuously

winding or circuitous

The teal lake was entirely still, lit only by a fistful of nosey stars and a single candle, held aloft aboard the frontmost of the three small vessels that were rowing anfractuously towards Jökki.

[quillifluous]

bilboes

an iron bar with sliding shackles, used to fasten prisoners’ ankles

Skyra heard the painful clanking of the bilboes before she saw the squabble of dishevelled urchins appear in the distance.

[quillifluous]

capernoited

slightly intoxicated or tipsy

Jökki took the sharp knife to his palm, drawing it firmly across the tough skin and letting five thick drops of his capernoited blood fall in to the lake.

[quillifluous]

selcouth

strange, unusual, rare, marvellous, wondrous, unfamiliar

Skyra shuffled closer to Gunki and held the older woman’s arm, watching intently in the selcouth darkness as her father folded to one knee and dipped his goblet into the shallows.

[quillifluous]

bulwark

a wall of earth built for defense

Arne silently climbed the bulwark that separated Jökki's home from the conspicuously still lake, hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse. It wouldn't be long now.

[quillifluous]

atavistic

revering something ancient or ancestral

The evening came surprisingly early for everyone stood before the shore except Jökki. He did not wear the tunic of his ancestors, and his fingers remained free of the traditional rings, but there was an atavistic pride in his stance as he waited.

[quillifluous]

firtle

to mess around and waste time; to look like you're doing something, when in reality you are actually just faffing about

Jökki's steady pace did not change as he made for the small smokehouse out back. There were only a handful of tasks left for him to do before the sun set; as long as he didn't firtle about he'd be left with plenty of time to spare.

[quillifluous]

loquacious

talkative; fond of talking; excessively talking

The intense silence that haunted her father’s home deep in the taiga unnerved Skyra deeply. She’d never been what one could call loquacious, but something about the trees and the unnatural patterns that creaked through their bark made her garble even the smallest thoughts she had out loud, desperate to engage Gunki in conversation.

[quillifluous]

afore

before

The sun rose defiantly above the far side of the lake, its threatening, vermillion rays greeting the hard bristles that adorned the top of Jökki's silent lips as he stood half-naked afore the window. 'Tonight,' he thought to himself resolutely. 'Tonight.'

[quillifluous]

hiraeth

A homesickness for a place or time you cannot return to, or have never even been to start with

Alone in the darkness, Arne sat on the clean bedding, his arms wrapped around his knees and a steady stream of tears silently fighting their way down his cheeks. 

“Why?” he tried to whisper, pleading for any kind of mercy as the familiar sense of hiraeth began to take hold.

[quillifluous]

bawbee

a coin of low value

"And you, Arne?" asked Skyra. "What shall you do this winter?"

"Nothing," he grunted. "I'm not so desperate for a few bawbees that I'm just going to let Jökki make me his dogsbody."

Skyra’s eyebrows rose sharply, but she bit back each and every one of the venomous retorts that came to mind. The rest of the meal passed by in stony silence, hot tears pricking at the back of Gunki's eyes and Arne glaring at everything, as if the Gods themselves had challenged him to some impossible, foolhardy quest for nothing but their own sadistic amusement. Jökki sat at the table nonplussed, staring out of the window as he mopped up the mushroom broth with a thick slice of bread, his thoughts on matters much deeper than Arne's contempt.

[quillifluous]

argute

sharpness of mind; perceptive; sharp; shrewd

Skyra stood in the kitchen, the patient smile on her thin lips and her unkempt blonde hair belying the argute, blue eyes that had instantly read the unspoken story of the family. Arne offered her a piece of bread from the wooden bowl that her father had recently carved, and she took it, before passing it on to Gunki. Each of the three chewed in a comfortable silence as they waited for Jökki, Arne unaware of the glanced conversation between the two women.

[quillifluous]

overmorrow

the day after tomorrow

Jøkki could hear the argument inside his house, but he chose not to listen, his attention focused instead on carefully digging out the tree trunk before him with his favoured chisel. He knew exactly what it was like to stand as Arne did now, a young man wrestling with the recent death of a father he idolised: words that were not meant would be tossed around in anger, and threats that made little sense would roll from vicious tongues. The quiet carpenter hoped that the visit of his youngest daughter overmorrow would appease the fire in Arne, but he doubted it.

[quillifluous]

polrumptious

describing somebody who is argumentative, grumpy and convinced in their argument, annoying everyone with their over-confidence

Gunki dunked the empty goblet into the pail of icy water as the weak sun cracked the horizon, imagining that the sturdy drinking vessel was her polrumptious son's head. She knew that her new husband would never replace Arne's father, but why couldn't the boy just admit that Jøkki was a good man? She had been lucky to find a man that would take them in before the winter; the fact that he was kind, selfless and could create anything they needed with his bare hands was too much to have dared hope for.

[quillifluous]

inglenook

a cosy nook by the hearth

Even though the flames had long given up the fight, Jøkki could still make out the pert silhouette of his new wife sleeping atop the thick furs that he’d stuffed into the inglenook. He gulped down the last of his mead, wiped the drops that had missed his mouth from his thick beard, and then lay down beside her. He pulled the largest of the furs over the pair of them, wondering if she knew just how cold winters in the North could be.